The world generator only creates a single planet that can be edited in many ways. Making it a universe generator would add things like multiple moons and suns, constellations, and other planets solar system. I think this will be very important for things like engravings and statues, since the sun, moon, etc. had a strong influence on ancient spirituality.
I agree. Love the idea! Great stuff. Though I feel I should correct some misinformation here and add my two cents.
A solar system would have to include at least one star and one planet.
A solar system, by definition, is a star with orbitting bodies -- be they asteroids, gas clouds/rings, planets, planetoids, etc. Star systems should not be restricted to just anything simply having planets. However, for game purposes, perhaps anything without a planet would simply be too insignificant to truly note as more than a star.
The sun star could be a class O (extremely large, white, least likely to occur), B (very large, blue-white, very unlikely to occur), A (large, unlikely to occur, blue), F (likely to occur, yellow, average size) G, (Most likely to occur, average size, yellow), K (likely to occur, orange, smaller than average), and M (unlikely to occur, red, very small). The effects of the type of sun-star could be the temperature of the planet.
OBAFGKM That's spot on, however you've mixed up a few basic details here.
O class stars are on the bluer end of the spectrum, and these are not by definition large -- they are massive. These two things are not the same. Size and mass are unrelated things. You can have both an O-class and an M-class star that are immensely large, but physical size has nothing to do with color or classification. M class stars are redder, and stars on this end of the spectrum have very little mass.
O stars are also not white, they are blue. Many (or most) of these even emit light in the ultraviolet spectrum. As you move to the redder end of the spectrum, you shift to blue-white, to yellow, to orange, then to red (and infrared). Our own star, appearing yellow, is a G2.
The bluer stars are more massive, and more luminous (give off more energy). They are also extremely rare.
The redder stars tend to not be very massive, and are typically not very luminous. Some M-class stars are even so red that they only emit light that is in the infrared, and are not visible to the naked eye. Red stars are also
extremely common. The vast majority of stars in the universe are M-class stars. G-type stars are not the most likely to occur.
The only way I currently find for this being relevant to the game world itself is information about the particular planet in Legends, and perhaps in engravings and statues. The amount of energy/radiation being put out by a star would dictate the optimal distance for a planet to be from the star in order for the planet to be inhabitable and relatively Earth-like. The bluer the star, the more energy being put out, and the further away the planet would need to be in order to find this optimal place. The redder the star, the less energy put out, the closer the planet needs to be in order to find that optimal place. Stars closer than the optimal range would be hotter, most likely desert planets or blistering rocky wastelands. Stars outside the optimal range would be colder, perhaps ice/snow planets (if water is available) or freezing [temperature-wise] rocky wastelands.
Possible moons depend on how large the home planet is, (larger world = more moons), moons would effect ocean currents of the planet, although I’m not sure how this would be incorporated into the game.
I'm not really sure how tidal forces would have an affect on the game world. As it is, the ocean is more-or-less irrelevant, especially to dwarfs who prefer to dwell underground rather than on/near the sea. Getting into multiple bodies affecting tidal forces is perhaps a little to complicated for Toady to really be getting into if tidal forces are irrelevant to be taken into consideration, and this might just be easiest if left out.
However, I believe that the size of the planet should not be specifically indicative of the number of moons a planet would have. What if you always wanted a large planet, and you'd always get a large number of moons? That gets stale after a while. You should be able to have a random number of moons.
A number of things contribute to the formation of moons. Generally natural satellites, if I recall correctly, would need to be formed under high temperatures, either requiring having been formed when the planets were formed, or having formed from an outside event such as a planetary collision that could generate that much heat on a large body, enough for it to form into a spherical shape. This could lead to a number of satellites, especially if collisions are frequent (which would also be more likely to occur earlier in the history of the system, as well, as over time things would reach a balance of sorts in the system).
Another factor could be size, as larger planets do have greater gravitational forces --
(do not mix this up with stars, as a stars size and mass are totally unrelated, whereas for planets, mass and size do tend to be related) -- and may attract other smaller bodies within their local area towards them. However, do not be mistaken, as just because a body is pulled towards another body, it does not mean that it shall be forced into an orbit. It is also likely that a body will be flung away from the larger body, or even pulled directly into it causing a collision.
None of these seem to guarantee any ascertainable number of moons. What i'm getting at here: moons should be more-or-less random in number. Though 587 moons might be a little excessive.
Stars would only be recognized by civilizations in the form of constellations. (ex. On the oaken chest is a masterfully crafted image of swordsmashed the constellation in cowhide leather.)
Love the idea. So much. I'd love to have engravings and such of stars and constellations.
Other phenomenon like black holes and supernovas would likely be too overly complex just to destroy the entire planet.
Would be interesting for Legends, but otherwise I agree. These are likely just far too complex and irrelevant to be bothered with. Far too off-course for Toady, I might think.
The whole topic is a bit esoteric, and there are definitely things I'd love to see added before this, but as far as for finishing touches on the game? I feel this would be great.
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Topic: Universe Generator (Read 5082 times)